Dead Can't Testify
by silvers-edge
Summary: "After making a shocking discovery, Sadiq and his friends take a trip to the past. Not only does it test their understanding of themselves, but also each other. "You, it was all you that caused this, you caused all the fighting and heartache!" Warnings inside. Much thanks to Reedling for her help.


Hey all, sorry for no posting for a while, but yes, I'm alive. Here's a new fic for the Hetalia fandom. All of my stories for the FMA and YGO have hit major writers blocks I can't seem to get over. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this. This was inspired by the song "Dead Can't Testify" by Billy Talent"

Some warnings for you all. Language, and lots of it. And a semi sexual scene, graphic imagining, tissue will be needed as there is a death, but please dont let this stop you from reading. Religiously sensitive material within also.

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It was a warm sunny day out and everyone was glad that they had chosen to go camping to celebrate the end of the term. All of them had just passed their junior year at Gakuen University and wanted to have some fun. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and just enough of a breeze to barely move the leaves on the trees. All in all, the day could not be better. With a stretch and a large crack of his back, Sadiq walked over to a nearby tree and leaned against it, watching the antics of all of his friends. It had only been last year that they all started getting along….well, that he started getting along with them. He had finally realized that he had no reason to act as much of an ass to them as he had been. Thankfully everyone had seemed to accept his apologies and welcomed him into the group.

Looking around, his eyes landed on Feliciano. He had a good friend with Feliciano. He was really thankful when he had accepted his apologizes…frankly he wasn't sure he would as he had always treated Feliciano the worst for unknown reasons. Seeing Feliciano look up and smile at him, he smiled back and moved on to the next in the group, his brother Lovino. He never really did much to wrong Lovino, yet the guy wouldn't give him a break, didn't believe his apology was sincere and thought he was only out to try and hurt Feliciano again though his greatest weakness…his friends. Sadiq commonly ignored Lovino insults or insulted him back…actually it worked well for them. Moving his gaze, it landed on Prussia. He had been friends of sorts with him before last year; they at least respected each other. He could remember what had started him thinking highly of Prussia. He had been picking on Feliciano again, well, tormenting was actually more like it and Prussia came to Feliciano's defense and had proceeded to beat the pulp out of him. In all reality he deserved it. He thought that Prussia started respecting him when he found out he was trying to raise his little brother by himself and was just taking his stress out in the wrong way. His gazed moved to Ludwig and he had to hold back a laugh; Gilbert's bird was on his head again and was lecturing his brother about the bird.

"How many times have I told you to keep your bird to yourself?" It was actually quite a comical picture watching Ludwig trying to get a bird out of his hair.

"Gilbird just likes you, he can't spend all of his time with mein awesome self; he has to spread his awesomeness around."

As those two continued arguing, he moved his gaze to Kiku, one of the first people to see past his frustration and anger to see the person he really was. It probably helped that he didn't live that far from him and had basically seen everything he went through during the years. He had to smile as he watched Kiku...it seemed like he was intensely watching both Gilbert and Ludwig, probably trying to figure out if he should try to get them to stop. Continuing around his friends, he came across Heracles, who seemed to be doing what he liked to do, taking a quick nap. He also grew up close to each other and while they didn't hate each other, they weren't really friends either. They got along as well as cats and dogs, but he promised Kiku he would behave. With a small sigh, he briefly played with the idea of waking him up somehow before deciding against it and moved on to the last person who came with them, Arthur. He really wasn't all that close to him, though he had hoped to change that this weekend. He had a bit of a crush on the Britt that he was only just acknowledging to himself. He would never admit it to others, he was too afraid of what the others would think of him. He didn't want to be cast out of the group because of that when he finally felt a part of it.

"That's enough bruder. Now, why don't we play a round of soccer, have a bit of fun before dinner?"

""Ve, Luddi, we should really do that, it sounds like so much fun~~ There's this really big meadow close by, let's go play!"

"Gut. Lets go then." Watching Feliciano grab Ludwig's hand and Lovino spouting off about staying away from the potato bastard, Sadiq pushed himself away from the tree he was leaning against and followed everyone, smiling in the process. He was really glad to have such great friends. Getting lost in thought, he trailed behind everyone and without realizing it; he kept his eyes on Arthur.

"Hey Adnan, you wanna fuck him or is complicated?"

"I wouldn't mind, but I just don't know….what you say?"

Coming back to his thoughts, he quickly realized what he was saying and to who. It had to be Gilbert. He quickly noticed where he was looking and turned his head with a slight blush. He was thankful that everyone else was a head of them and didn't hear what Gilbert had asked him.

"I asked if you just wanted a one off with him or if there was more to it than that cause he isn't the type to go for one time deals."

Sadiq shook his head and kept his eyes away from his friend. "Still don't see where you getting this from, I wasn't staring at anyone."

"Didn't say you were staring, but thanks for pointing it out though. Seriously dude, if you're into him, tell him. No one's going to say anything; hell, my bruder's basically dating his Italian hanging off his arm."

"Just drop it alright, you're imagining things." Sadiq looked over and saw the perfect chance to get out of the awkward conversation. "Hey look, Heracles is bothering Kiku again." And with that he took off in a jog and proceeded to get into an argument. Prussia just grinned in amusement and shook his head. It would come out eventually, it always did.

Arriving at the field a few minutes later, his thoughts were taken off the conversation with Gilbert when he had heard Feliciano go from talking about soccer to wanting to know if he could paint a picture of Ludwig at some point in a police uniform? He could only shake his head, there was no point in trying to figure out Feliciano's logic sometimes.

"Nein Feliciano, there is no need to paint me, if you wanted to paint something, you should paint a picture of all of us playing soccer."

"Good idea Ludwig, a group picture so we can always remember how much fun we had this weekend." With a bright smile, Feliciano ran back to the camping area to grab his sketch pad as the rest started choosing teams.

Very quickly it was decided that the teams would be Lovino, Heracles and Arthur against Ludwig, Sadiq and Gilbert with Kiku as the referee. They had already started playing by the time Feliciano returned with his sketch pad and had sat himself next to a tree and started sketching.

A few minutes of passing the ball back and forth between teams finally left Sadiq with the ball, dribbling it towards the opposite goal.

"Sadiq, make the shot!"

"Not going to happen Ludwig, no balls are getting by me." A cocky smile was on Heracles face; he was confident that he could keep Sadiq from scoring.

"Heracles, you couldn't get any balls if your life depending on it… or any tail for that matter either. Fuck, get out of my way Lovino!" An equally cocky smirk was on Sadiq's face as he prepared to take the shot but was replaced by a look of disgruntled concentration as he had to try and quickly keep Lovino from getting the ball from him… and not be tripped in the process. The corners of his eyes wrinkled in concentration as he tried to maneuver himself and the ball out of Lovino's reach.

"Screw you, asswipe! You're the one in my way, you fucking brick wall! Move your ass!" He kept his feet as close to the ball as he could, trying to make Sadiq choose between tripping or giving up the ball.

"You're just jealous that I have a better chance of getting laid than you do Sadiq; men and women love me while you just annoy the shit out of everyone and they want nothing to do with you." Heracles teased as he watched the ball intently.

"Better to be picky about partners than get an STD like you-Shit Lovino lay off, you're not getting the ball!"

"Better to bed anything with a pulse than to be a virgin when you're twenty-three." Heracles called out from cupped hands, trying not to laugh at picturing Sadiq falling flat on his face after tripping over Lovino and the ball.

"As if you're gonna get past me! Your clumsy ass is gonna trip over your own fat feet! You're even worse at this than Alfred!"

With a growl, Sadiq went to kick the ball towards the goal in a desperate attempt to score. Just as he felt his foot hit the ball, he felt something hit his knee and felt himself falling. He watched the ball fly high but looked like it would still land in the designated goal zone, only to groan in frustration from where he lay on the grass as he watch it be blown into the woods by a sudden guest of wind.

"See, even the wind doesn't want you to score in any form."

"Keep at it Heracles and I'm gonna knock your block off. I could have had that if Lovino wouldn't have hit my knee."

"Hit your knee my ass, you're the one who tripped over me, fatass!" He flicked Sadiq off with one hand while he rubbed his own leg with the other as he got up from where he himself had fallen after the collision.

Seeing the ball get blown into the forest by the wind, Feliciano placed his sketch book on the ground and got up and started running after it.

"I got it!" He vanished into the woods after the ball while Sadiq and Heracles kept arguing and Kiku trying to get them to stop as usual. The rest just stood around talking while waiting on the ball when a sudden shriek pierced the air.

"Feliciano!"

It seemed that everyone yelled his name at the same time and bolted to the wooded area where he had disappeared, all worried for their fun loving friend. Sadiq was halted short in running by a solid mass hitting his chest and crying. Wrapping his arms around him instinctively, he looked around and saw Gilbert and Arthur heading over to what seemed like a recently uninterred skeleton, perhaps with the most recent rainfall that had lasted a few weeks in this part of the country. The bones were dark with age and seemed stained by the surrounding soil. Looking down, Sadiq rubbed his friends back while it seemed Ludwig had taken it upon himself to try to get the pelvis that had stuck to Feliciano's foot off of it.

"It came out of nowhere and scared me, I tripped over a root and when I opened my eyes, the skeleton was staring at me!"

"You're alright Feliciano, it can't hurt you."

"Ja, he's right, bones can't hurt you any, try and calm down."

Both Sadiq and Ludwig were trying to comfort Felicnao while Lovino stood away, scoffing at his brother, but looking rather pale himself.

"Ja, its bones alright, almost a complete skeleton."

"Of course they're bones you git, what else would they be!"

Ignoring the English boy, Gilbert poked the bones a few times before looking up at him. "Say, you know spells and that right, how about working a spell to see how this poor bastard died?"

Kiku and Heracles who had hung back at the tree line walked forward and put a hand on Feliciano's shoulder.

"This is not a good idea. The supernatural should be left alone. Something's are better left forgotten. Buried by the passing of time. There is a reason dead men tell no tales."

"Oh please Kiku, it's a bunch of bones, more than likely it's just someone's grandparents they couldn't afford to give a proper funeral. Now Arthur, let's give the spell a go a see what it pulls up."

Hearing someone walk up next to him, Sadiq looked over and saw Heracles eyeing the bones wirily.

"I don't know about you Sadiq, but I agree with Kiku, let's leave it alone…I've got a bad feeling about this."

Sadiq shrugged and let Feliciano go, who immediately grabbed on to Ludwig and started crying.

"You sissy, it's just a bunch of bones that can't harm yo-ouu!" Lovino screeched and jumped behind Ludwig, Sadiq and Heracles as Gilbert held the skull next to Lovino's head and cleared his throat, causing Lovino to look over and get the scare of his life.

"Not funny potato bastard!"

"Kesseesee, it sure was, if only you could have seen your face, priceless, wish I would have had a camera."

"Alright you two, get those two pieces of bones you have and lay them down with the rest of them…the more of the skeleton we have the better the spell will work."

Rolling his eyes at his brother's actions, Ludwig grabbed the skull from Gilbert and laid the pelvis and skull in their correct places and walked back over to Feliciano, who had grabbed ahold of Sadiq again when Ludwig stepped away.

Making a quick circle in the dirt around the bones with what seemed to be very intricate symbols in a language no one except for Arthur could read, he cracked his knuckles and stood at the top of the circle next to the head.

"Alright, you wanted a spell; you'll get a spell so fine it'll knock your socks off. Everyone stand on the outside edge of the circle and hold hands, unless you're scared." With a cocked eyebrow he looked at every one of them as if in a dare.

Not one to take a dare lightly, Sadiq and Heracles both stepped up and stood on the edge of the circle, waiting for the rest. With a small nod to Arthur, he looked around, just catching the returns of a smile. He was happy with that so he didn't push it, it wouldn't be right. Slowly everyone stood on the circle, not wanting to be the one to be left out and miss whatever was going on. Once everyone was in position, they closed their eyes and let Arthur do whatever it was he did.

"Past is present, present is past. Let us see the lost and not been seen; let us hear the past and not be heard. Fate is set and not yet past, take us to the time long since lost."

With the cry of the final words falling from Arthur's lips, the wind began stirring around them and howled. Leaves picked up and made a literal wall of foliage surrounded them, blocking everything from view. Forced to close his eyes with the strength of the wind, Sadiq opened them once the wind died down and saw his friends just starting to open them too. Looking around, it didn't seem like the world had changed all that much… there were a few more trees though. The leaves were green and still in bloom, the birds were chirping and the crickets were also chirping. Looking down, he saw the bones were gone, not even an imprint remained in the dirt. That was the only noticeable difference that told them they weren't in their own time anymore.

"The fucking bones are gone!" With a shriek, Lovino freaked and launched himself at Sadiq and grabbed his arm in a death grip as others around him snickered a bit. Realizing what he was doing, he immediately let go and glared at the man who he loathed. "Stop fucking touching me, dickwad! It's creepy and I don't swing your way!"

Sadiq only rolled his eyes and ignored Lovino. It was common to be insulted by him for no reason; actually it helped break up the monotony of the day usually.

"Of course they're gone you twat, they aren't dead yet. We're in the time when the person was alive to see how they died and what led to their downfall. Now if we could just get out of these woods we could start solving this mystery and get home before teatime."

It seemed the universe had been waiting for Arthur to finish talking, the bells of a nearby church started ringing as soon as the last word had left his mouth.

"Oh no, I'm late! I'm going to be in so much trouble~ Lovi's going to yell at me again and make me clean the whole church and I was supposed to go see Elizabeth at the bonfire tonight~" Hearing this familiar way of speaking, they all turned around to see someone who looked like Feliciano running with many bright color flowers in his arms and dressed in long flowly white robes with a red stole around his neck.

"He looks like me, Ludwig, he looks like me!" Feliciano tugged and pulled on Ludwig's arm as he pointed to his doppelgänger

"Ja, he does, how strange."

"The fuck is my stupid fratello doing there, he's right here!?" He looked between the Feliciano that was running and the one that was standing near him in confusion as he tried to figure out what was going on.

With a roll of his eyes, Sadiq scoffed and shook his head. "Jeeze Lovino, how much of an idiot can you be. That's not Feliciano, just someone who looks like him. So much for knowing your own family."

Watching the other run past, they all winced when he tripped over seemingly nothing and his armful of flowers went flying everywhere.

"Ja, that's your boyfriend alright bruder, trips over his own two feet."

"Ve~ I wanna help him."

Putting a hand on Feliciano's shoulder, Ludwig shook his head and ignored his brother. "You can't help him, these events already happened and can't be altered; besides, according to Arthurs spell we are basically invisible and incorporeal in the time period."

"But-but" with a sigh Feliciano's shoulders sank as he turned to watch the other gather up the flowers in a hurry, muttering worriedly in Latin while trying not to crush the many he had gathered for whatever his purpose was. Finally getting up he took off running again, though his pristine white robes showed a grass stain where his right knee would be.

"What are you idiots gawking for? Let's follow him so we can get this trip over with"

Everyone just stared at Arthur and the birds kept tweeting and Gibird nestled himself firmly into Gilbert's hair to take a nap.

"Quite staring at me, you buggers wanted to know what happened to the poor fellow, following someone is the best way to figure it out."

Essentially everyone agreed and they all followed at a walk after Feliciano's double. Most of them were quiet, as they tried to process the fact that they had just saw Feliciano's past self acting the same as he currently did.

They quickly came to the edge of the forest to see a town that had not been there before. It didn't look new by any means, but it wasn't falling down with decay either. The buildings seemed to be made of wood, some more well-built than the others. Many seemed to have that weathered look of being beat upon by rain and hail that shows the test of time. Seeing Feliciano's double run into the church, they followed him inside and were slightly surprised to see Kiku's look alight at the pulpit as the Feliciano look alike hurriedly placed the flowers on the alter in the back of the room next to one of the small basin of holy water before he slipped into place in front of the pulpit, trying not to be seen.

"Well, look at that, Kiku's double is a priest, doesn't surprise me really. Wonder if there's a Heracles look alike trying to get into his pants too?"

With a growl, Heracles walked up behind Sadiq and smacked him across the back of the head. "Shut it you old toad, no one here cares what you think about."

"Heracles has apparently fucked the most, but between Fatass and the prude to see who can remain a virgin the longest. What, you two have a bet that whoever gets screwed first gets to bang the other?"

Walking over to his brother, Feliciano patted him on the shoulder . "But this Kiku is a priest, Lovi! They're not allowed to be in relationships, they're married to the Church~ Silly Lovi, forgetting that~"

"Get your hands off me fucktard! And I know that, I'm not stupid like you." He shoved Feliciano's hand off his shoulder then proceeded to try and wipe off the imaginary dust that was transferred there from his brother's hand while everyone else just sighed at how oblivious Feliciano seemed, except for Ludwig who facepalmed and walked over to hug Feliciano who was sniffling slightly.

"Kesesesese~ Always knew Kiku was a pervert behind the scenes! Imagine all the secret confessions he had with the alter-" Gilbert's words were cut off as one of Ludwig's hands met painfully with the back of his skull in a loud 'thwack'. "OW! West, was zum Teufel was that for?!" He demanded, rubbing the aching spot with a wince.

"Keep your perverted comments to yourself, Bruder, and shut up. The rest of us are trying to pay attention"

With a slight frown on his face, Gilbert grumbled about how unawesome it was to hit his older bruder and looked around the congregation while everyone was paying action to what the Kiku priest was talking about, or well, pretending not to in Lovino's case.

"It is against the will of God for a man to lay with a man, or woman to do the same. For if ye do, thou shelt be cast into the fires of Hell for all eternity. For they are seen to have made a covenant with the devil and broken the Holy one with the Lord in return for mortal pleasures of the flesh. Also to suffer the fires of Hell is those that have signed the Devils book in blood for power; unearthly power. This witches shall be cast out and condemned for their action. Repent, shed away your sins and come into the light of God, return to him and join in the sacred union of Spirt, let youself be whole"

"Hmm, interesting… eins zwei drei…. Kesesesese, we all have look alikes here…well, all but two" Everyone looked around the audience to find what Gilbert was talking about and turned away from Priest Kiku, not paying attention anymore to his sermon.

"Look! There's Luddi's double! And Gilberts~ the whole group is together~" A slight frown came to his face as he continued looking around. "Lovi? Why isn't your double here?"

"They aren't just doubles; they seem to be our past selves. It can't be a coincidence that we found the skeleton and we're brought back to a time where our look alikes are. They are us, just centuries past This means the skeleton belongs to one of us.

"Hm... "Who gives a Scheiße if they're past lives, Arthur? Besides, you're missin' something, Dummköpfe~ Lovino isn't the only one missing here. Sadiq's Doppelgänger's gone too. Kesesesese~ And I'm pretty sure they're off having some old-fashioned fun~ The hair-pullin, back-scratchin' fucking that everyone enjoys~ Kesesese~"

A look of disgust appeared on Sadiq's face as he looked over at Lovino with that comment and he physically shuddered. "Agh Gilbert, please you're going to make me throw up, I didn't need that mental image at all….never in a thousand years would I ever sleep with him."

An equally disgusted look was on Lovino's face as he heard the comment. "No way, no fucking way would I ever let that fucking douchebag fuck me!"

"I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole, so no worries there; besides, I'm into chicks, not dicks."

From a few feet away from him, he could have sworn he heard Gilbert smothered what sounded like the word 'liar' behind a series of coughs.

With a sigh, Arthur looked between the two and could tell they were going to start arguing and sighed, it seemed like he had to be the adult of the group…again.

"If you two nitwits are done, the priest is done talking and everyone is getting up to leave. Let's continue following Feliciano's double… there must be a bloody reason why he was the first one we saw."

Grumbling, they followed everyone out and were surprised to see everyone gathering things together for what seemed to be a party. One person was filing a barrel and had a canvas bag open next to it showing that it was full of apples. A few feet away from them, people were setting up homemade instruments and starting to warm up. There were other activities being sat up, but no one paid much attention to them, they were watching the Feliciano look alike as he looked around, as if looking for someone.

"Feliciano, where was your brother Lovino during church today?"

The entire group was turned to watch the priest Kiku address the just named past Feliciano

"I-I don't know, he told me he would be here….oh I hope he's not sick, he got caught in the rain last week."

"Why don't you go find him and bring him here, he probably just overslept."

With a smile and a nod, the past Feliciano scampered off to find him.  
"Oh, Lovi skipped church, what were you doing Lovi? Were you sick?" Present day Feliciano walked over to his brother and placed a hand on his forehead.

With a quick shove, Lovino pushed his brother away while rolling his eyes. " Idiot fratello, how would I know that, and I'm not sick god damnit. Stop freaking confusing the present with the fucking past."

With present day Feliciano whimpering slightly and clinging on to present day Ludwig, they followed the past Feliciano to what appeared to be his home. But on the way they were held up by hearing past Heracles talking to past Arthur; they both appeared slightly sad over something.

"Heracles, why wasn't Sadiq in church today?"

With a sigh, past Heracles shrugged and looked towards the side. Following the direction of the gaze, it led to the cemetery that was behind the church. "You know that answer as well as I do. Ever since his wife died in childbirth three years ago, he tends to just work in the smithy and stay at home , only leaving the house to get food for him and his son. I've given up on trying to get him to church."

"Well that's a right shame. I wonder if I should go talk to him, maybe if someone he wasn't so close to talked to him, he would come back?"

Shrugging, past Heracles shook his head and looked up. "The loss damaged his faith greatly, unless something changes drastically, I doubt he'll ever come back." With that said, they both walked away mumbling to themselves over the current crop production, having switched to a different subject.

"My past self must be an idiot, like I would ever be that close to you."

Looking a present day Heracles, Sadiq just shrugged. "As if I would ever want you that close to me either, I'd probably catch one of the awful diseases I'm sure you have from one of the sluts you've fucked."

"Sadiq! Heracles! Now is not the time for fighting. We must follow Feli-kun's past self if we want to find out what's going on."

With a frown on both of their faces, they looked away from each other and nodded to Kiku.

"Sorry Kiku" They spoke in unison before ignoring each other again.

Turning back they were looking, they spotted past Feliciano go into a house that had to belong to him with all the tomato plants around it. Following behind, they managed to catch up enough that once they entered the house they could hear him calling for his brother.

"Lovino~ Oh Lovino~ Are you alright? We missed you at church today. You know you're not supposed to miss church unless you're really sick~" Not getting an answer, he walked deeper into the house and up the stairs, unaware of the group following him. He stopped short of his brothers door when he heard noises coming from inside, noises he wasn't used to hearing from his brother.

"Nggh, oh Dio! Don't stop! Oh!"

With a look of utter confusion on his face, past Feliciano opened the door and stood there in shock before he backed away slowly and sat at the top of the stairs and looked like he couldn't process what he was seeing.

"Keseseses, I told you, sounds like Romano's doing the nasty!" Walking forward, a certain glint came to his eyes and seemed to glow a bright crimson at hearing the sounds of pleasure emitting from the room. He slowly opened the door farther so they could all see what was going on in the room. "And he's doing it with Sadiq's past self too Keseseseses~ I love it when I'm right!"

Very slowly, everyone turned to look at the present day Sadiq and Lovino, a look of shock present on all of their faces. The color was slowly draining from Sadiq's and Lovino's was turning redder and redder.

"No…. No, there is no way I would ever do that, that's just-" Sadiq's sentence cut off with as shudder as he watched his past self lift his head from past Romano's neck and kiss him passionately. "I think I'm going to be sick….."

While Sadiq was turning a bit green, Lovino had finally reached the same red as a well-cooked lobster and his hands were clenching at his side hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

"Hell No! No way in fucking Hell is that going to happen." Stomping over to the figures going at it on the bed, present day Lovino ignored their state of undress and the fact that his past self was running his nails down the back of the bastard on top of him, he tried to shove past Sadiq off of him only to have his hands go through him as if an illusion. "Get off of my past self, you have no fucking right to do that, what you do, bewitch him with your so-called charm! Get the fuck off….no…..not in, off….gross….Ughh. I'm gonna kill you Adnan once I get done being sick."

"Not if I kill myself first. No wonder past Feliciano looked so, so…there is no word for that."  
With a light laugh, present day Heracles walked over to present day Sadiq and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look at it this way; at least you got laid in one life.

"Quite the show you two, quite the show; very impressive if I do say so myself." With another laugh, Gilbert leaned against his brother and watched the two on the bed start basking in the afterglow.

"Shut it both of you." Pinching the bridge of his nose, present day Sadiq leaned against the wall and just had his eyes closed. He couldn't believe what he had just saw.

Walking over to Sadiq, Gilbert leaned his arm against the wall and leaned in close and whispered into his ear, making sure no one else could hear. "The contrast between the dark and light of your skin tones was beautiful; but while Lovino's copper tone looked wonderful against your bronze, Arthur's alabaster would look even better."

Having to bite off a small moan that threatened to rip from his throat at the mental image that arose with Gilbert's words, Sadiq pulled Gilbert away from him as stood up and walked out the door, only to see that the past Feliciano had vanished. "Guys, we should probably try and find our guide again, he vanished."

Nodding, they walked out, all still slightly in shock at what they witnessed, except for Gilbert who was lauging his ass off.

"Bruder, what did you say to Sadiq to make him act like that?"

"Nothing of importance, just helping him realize something is all" With another laugh in his brothers face, Gilbert continued to chuckle to himself as they made their way out of the house, Lovino and Sadiq situated as far from each other as possible.

Rounding a corner, it was the present day Feliciano halted where he was and started shaking. "There he is! Talking to Priest Kiku….uh oh, that's not good."

Following Feliciano's gaze, Ludwig saw what he was talking about and shrugged. "What's the big deal, He's just talking."

Shaking his head, he pulled Ludwig closer as to his past self and priest Kiku, close enough that they could hear what they were talking about.

"Feliciano, are you sure you saw what you think you saw?"

With a nod of his head, past Feli wrung his hands together as he continued to look at the ground. "I'm sure….I know it's wrong to have relation's with those of the same gender, but he's my brother…perhaps you could talk to him."

With a nod, priest Kiku put a hand on Feliciano's shoulder and squeezed gently. "Don't worry, we can talk to him and get this all sorted out. I'm sure they will both see the error once we have a talk to them."

With a nod of his own, past Feliciano started leading the way to the house that him and his brother shared when they saw Lovino, who looked only slightly rumbled, making his way to the town square where the after church festivities were taking place.

"Lovino, you weren't in church today. Is there a reason?"

The past Lovino merely shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. "Just overslept, nothing to get excited about."

Catching Lovino's eyes, Kiku's eyes took on a certain glint and bore into Lovino's, almost as if daring him to lie again. "Now now Lovino, it's a sin to lie to a Priest, now why weren't you in church?"

Fidgeting under his gaze, he couldn't turn his head. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he swallowed loudly before looking around and speaking quietly under his breath. "I was having sex."

Nodding his head, the priest hummed before cocking his head. "Who were you sleeping with Lovino, and remember, confessing helps clean the stain of the soul."

Looking around and not seeing anyone else that could hear, he hung his head and spoke lowly again. "I slept with a man….Sadiq…"

"So not only have you had intercourse before marriage, but you slept with a man also. Those are some pretty hefty sins and at least one illegal activity. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with you Lovino."

Frantically looking around, as if searching for something, he opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to his mind. "But it wasn't my fault; I swear he bewitched me or something? I would never of my own free will sleep with a man." Wide eyed by the end of his explanation, he clamped his hands over his mouth and stared at the priest in shock.

Shaking his head, Kiku sighed and looked at him hard. "Are you sure about that, the crime of witchcraft is something the church and the judge cannot ignore, I want you to think hard on what you just said."

With a slight nod, past Lovino shook his head and nodded, signaling that yes, he was sure that he was bewitched into the behavior.

With a sigh, past Kiku shook his head again and looked up to the sky. "You are dismissed my children. I must contemplate on a course of action to save his soul. You are released from all sins Lovino."

Nodding their heads, past Feliciano wrapped his arms around Lovino and walked with him back to their house as Lovino just stared a head, not saying anything else. With the priest looking up and the two past brothers , only the group of friends from the present saw what looked like Arthur's brother Peter sneak from behind a barrel and take off running.

"Bloody Hell, Peter had a past life here too, where's that little brat running off to?"

"No idea Arthur, lets follow him and see what happens now, nothing can be gained from following Feliciano's past self now.

Following Ludwig's advice, they took off after past Peter in a light sprint in order to keep up with the little guy. Slowing down once they saw Peter vanish into a house, they entered and heard Peter speaking rapidly, barely able to be understood.

"Take a breath and shut up for a minute brat. What's the matter?"

Arthur was sitting behind a desk that was piled with paperwork. He had a cup of tea beside him that was steaming as if it was just poured. He looked quite annoyed by the interruption and seemed as if he wanted to kick Peter out.

"Lovino slept with Sadiq and says that Sadiq bewitched him into the act!"

A look of disbelief crossed past Arthurs face and he shook his head. Standing up, he walked over to Peter and kneeled in front of him. "You know better than to tell stories like that. I should belt you for lying!"

"But it's not a lie; I heard it with my own two ears. Lovino confessed to the Priest that he slept with Sadiq and claimed that he was bewitched!"

Past Arthur stared at Peter, unblinking in the eye to see if he turned away. He didn't. "I see. Thank you Peter, I'll take care of it from here. Now run along and go play, and take a coin out of my satchel and get yourself some candy."

With a smile and a nod, Peter jumped and ran out of the room after picking a coin out of past Arthur's money satchel. Watching the kid go, he sighed and walked back over to his desk where he quickly grabbed a paper and wrote something down. Blowing the ink dry, he rolled it up and stuck it in his belt before grabbing his cloak and walking out himself.

Unsure what the past Arthur was doing, they followed thorough the center of town where they noticed that the activities had disbanded and the sun was starting to set….

"Hmm, it got late quickly, where did the time go?" Heracles was looking at the sun setting and got a chill along his spine. Old folklore always said red sky at night, sailors delight, but it was not delight he was feeling, it was foreboding.

"Not a clue, but I'm getting a really bad feeling….I'm really starting to think this was a huge mistake and that Kiku was right, the past should be left there." Sadiq had swallowed loudly after the comment and looked around like he was expecting someone to hurt him suddenly. He looked from each one of his friends to the ground and then to the sky himself. He could not imagine his friends hurting him, not anymore at least.

"It's the spell, its only showing us the important parts, so it's skipping parts of the day that aren't important. It could go from dusk to dawn then back to dusk for all we know." Brushing some dust off his shirt, he sniffed and made a face as they followed his double. He didn't like his double already, though he couldn't put his finger on why, just that he didn't.

As the sun just started disappearing below the horizon, the past Arthur knocked on the door he was heading for and stood there for a minute. He heard a few dogs barking and the door opened slowly. Looking up, he nodded but didn't smile.

"Hallo Arthur, can I help you with something? It's late for a personal business."

They could see other Arthur sniffing and they walked closer themselves. They could smell a faint smell of alcohol on the other Ludwig and knew that the other Arthur wasn't happy about the fact. Ludwig had on his nighttime clothes as if he was just getting ready for bed.

"Constable Ludwig, I have a job for you to do this evening, I hope you aren't too _impared_ to do your duty." They could hear the derision in his voice and could tell that this Arthur couldn't stand this Ludwig at all.

"I see, Judge Arthur. I'm not impaired; my bruder just spilled his ale on me. Just let me get changed. Come in please, and ignore Gilbert. He's had a bit too much."

Walking into the living room, they all blinked and sighed; it seemed that cleaning habits survived lives and time. Looking around, everything was in its proper place…it had to be way too organized for the time they were in. They also saw past Gilbert passed out on the couch apparently in a drunken stupor if you listened to what past Ludwig had said.

"Luddi likes to clean here too?" Present-day Feliciano walked around and looked around, nodding at seeing how cleaned everything seemed to be while present Ludwig facepalmed at how that one trait had to carry over through the test of time.

They all looked back up when past Ludwig came back into the room in his uniform. It was pressed and neat as anyone could want, with his hair slicked back from where it had been loose and hanging around his forehead and ears before. Watching as the constable crossed the room; he walked over to Arthur and held out his hand. "As soon as I see the writ we can get this over with and both get to our beds, the hour grows late."

Making a face, past Arthur handed the document to Ludwig and looked around while it was read. He lifted one hand and brushed imaginary dirt off his shoulder, his stance alone showing how much he wanted to be anywhere but standing in the house with the two brothers. A loud snore came where past Gilbert flung an arm over the back of the couch in his sleep.

The color drained from past Ludwig's face as he read the charges. With a loud swallow, he looked up from the paper and to the judge. "Arthur, are you sure about this? Witchcraft and sodomy? This can kill him?"

Arthur looked at Ludwig and sneered. "Feel sorry for the witch? Feel some kinship to him? Be careful how you answer, you could be joining him."

Shaking his head, Ludwig rolled up the paper and stuck it in his belt before looking over at his brother. Shrugging, he walked over to the door, knowing Gilbert would be fine by himself in his drunken stooper. "Come on Arthur, we need to get Sadiq off the streets before he casts who knows what else spell on someone we both care about."

With that said, they both walked out the door followed by the group from the present. The night was as dark as pitch, the only thing lighting there was were a few candles placed outside doorways. They made their way over to the house that had to belong to Sadiq and watched the past Ludwig knock on the door.

Mummers could be heard coming from inside the house when the future group gathered around the door to try and get a better look of what might happened. They heard the sound of wood moving on wood and heavy footsteps walking closer to the door. With a slight creek, the door opened and the past Sadiq was standing there, slightly blocking the candle light coming from inside. His face was mostly in shadows, but of what they could see, he looked tired, worn almost.

"Constable Ludwig, Judge Arthur, the hour is late. Please come in and state your business, I trust this isn't a social call as the sun set hours ago."

Moving out of the way for the two men to enter, the rest of the group made a mad dash to get inside before the door shut, not wanting to be left outside and miss whatever was about to go down.

"Get out of my way idiota, stay outside, we'll tell you what happens."

"Shut it Romano, this involves my past self, I'm watching whats going down and you're not gonna stop me."

"You imbeciles, the spells makes it so we can't be seen or affect the past, basically incorporeal, you can walk through the door if it shuts." Arthur could only sign at the antics of the group, but he couldn't say much else as he also wanted to see what part he played in it, though he had a good idea already based on what he had seen so far.

They were all surprised to hear a familiar voice coming from the opposite side of the room. Looking over, they saw past Heracles sitting at the table with a cup in his hands. Steam was rising out of the cup, and from the smell of it, it smelled like some type of tea.

"Good evening gentlemen, I would offer you some of the tea I brought, but I'm afraid I just made myself the last cup." Past Heracles looked the two up and down and then stood up and slowly made his way to the doorway separating the kitchen from the rest of the house. "I'm going to go check on Denzer, make sure he's sleeping alright." With that said, he left the room without a backwards glance.

"Why you going to check on my brother huh? You better keep your dirty hands off of him." The entire past group sighed to see that Sadiq had Heracles's shirt in both hands and was glaring daggers at him.

"I'm not doing anything to him idiot, though knowing you, he probably has many things that shouldn't be in bed with a three year old."

Opening his mouth for a retort, the two were interrupted by Ludwig forcibly tearing them apart, a hand on the back of both of their collars. "Will you two shut it, both of you were friends in this life so there is nothing wrong with it, and Denzer is your son here, not your brother Sadiq."

With a grumble from the two, they faced away from each other and everyone turned back to the scene, surprised to see past Sadiq leaning against the wall while past Arthur was looking at a pot on the stove along with all the ingredients on the counter.

"What are you cooking up so late at night that smells so horrible?" Sticking a finger into the mix, he lifted it up to smell it before opening his mouth to taste it.

"Don't eat it you idiot, its bruise cream, poisonous when eaten." Sadiq had jolted off the wall and had grabbed Arthur's hand to keep him from sticking his finger in his mouth. Arthur glared at the hand on his arm and looked back up at Sadiq. "Unhand me you heathen. Trying to poison a judge and manhandling, both will be added to the charges against you."

"Arthur, that's not what happened, he wasn't-"

Turning his gaze to the constable, he glared. It was cold enough to make anyone stop in their tracks. "What charges are against him is none of your concern, you have one job here, and I suggest you do it."

Sadiq released his hand and they all watched as past Arthur wiped his hand on a towel and proceeded to search through the rest of the kitchen.

"What kind of wanker doesn't know bruise cream, my past self is an idiot." Present Arthur had went to stand by his past self and sighed. "I really don't like my past self, he's a complete twat."

"Sadiq, you are under arrest for practicing witchcraft, sodomy, manhandling and trying to poison the judge. Will you come willingly or will I have to make you?" Past Ludwig had walked up to Sadiq and took both hands in his own and placed the shackles on him. Looking down, past Sadiq frowned.

"I'll come willingly, not that you're giving me much choice in the matter what kind of ridiculous charges are those anyway?"

"I'm being as kind as I can be Sadiq, just be glad it's me and not my brother arresting you, you'd get nothing from him."

"What's going on here, why are you arresting Sadiq?"

Looking over at Heracles who just walked back into the kitchen with a three year old in his arms, past Sadiq shrugged. "They're here to arrest me for a list of charges that's completely made up, watch Denzer for me would ya, hopefully I can get this taken care of and be back before dawn."

With a nod, past Heracles could only stand there and watch as Sadiq was pushed along by Ludwig with Arthur trailing behind, looking smug all the while.

The future group could only watch in amazement at what had just happened, never would they have ever though that they could have all shared a past together and that it seemed to be heading in a direction everyone was afraid to find out how it ended.

"Sadiq, is this heading where-" Everyone watched as Heracles put his hand on Sadiq's shoulder only to have it shrugged off again.

"Don't say it, let's just follow our past selves and get this over with."

Everyone noticed how cold and hard Sadiq's tone sounded, but it was understandable given the circumstances. Only Kiku and Heracles frowned at the statement, having heard the hidden pain within the tone seeked to cover.

As they left the house, the sky was showing traces of light blue as the sun's rays peaked over the horizon, showing the signs that dawn had arrived and another day had started.

"Stupid spell time jumps, this whole thing is trying to confuse me." Gilbert chuckled at Romano's gripping at the same time Feliciano had taken to hanging on to Ludwig again, trying to drag him down to his height level.

"Good morning Ludwig~" With a little jump, he kissed Ludwig's cheek and scampered off to stand by his brother while Ludwig's cheeks had taken on a shade of pink that showed he was blushing at Feliciano's actions.

Hearing footsteps behind them, they all turned to see past Heracles coming from a different house and walked past them, seeming to be deep in thought in a rush to get wherever he was going. Hurrying along after past Heracles, everyone stayed quiet, except for Feliciano, who was humming a tuneless song to himself. He stopped humming as they crossed the threshold of the open door that they found led to the jail. Inside, at that farthest cell from the door, the found past Heracles standing with one hand wrapped around one of the bars.

"I left your son with Liz to watch over for now while we talk, just confess to the charges and you'll be released and forgiven your sins. Just spend a week with the priest to cleanse your soul of the blackness, and you'll be able to see your son again."

As they listened to past Heracles talk, they walked closer to the cell to see Sadiq sitting on the bench with his hands still manacled before him with bags under his eyes and looking really tired. He didn't look at Heracles at first, only looking out the small window, seeing light starting to shine in and he sighed. Shaking his head, he turned back to look at past Heracles.

"I will not confess to something I didn't do. My only crime is sleeping with someone I thought you would keep their mouth shut."

"But why did you sleep with a man, you know how much of a sin that is, you should have just found another woman you were interested in and married her." Past Heracles was looking at the floor, unable to look at his friend. His eyes traced the rock patterns of the floor, trying to find the words that seemed to have failed him.

"Herc, I know you won't understand as you have never lost a wife, but when she died, I lost everything; the only thing that helped me through that was taking care of Denzer. That man was the first to shake me from where I had buried myself into. He constantly challenged me into thinking outside of the rut I had worked myself into. I don't want another woman, there will never be another like her, but he actually made me feel alive again." He paused briefly before sighing. "Please tell Denzer I love him and will always be with him?"

While past Sadiq spoke, they had moved their attention back and forth between him and past Heracles, but by the end, they only watched Heracles. As he spoke, his voice came out slow and tight through clench teeth, as if trying to hold back anger. "It is true I didn't lose a wife, but I did lose a best friend. You will never know the pain I had to feel watching you shutting yourself off from everyone. All I have to say is this, If you die because of this, I will never forgive you" He lifted his head a glared at past Sadiq, eyes seemed to shimmer a bit in the morning light that had finally penetrated the halls and cells. "As Denzer's god parent I'll deliver your message and I'll watch over him should the worse happen, but I will never forgive you." Once the words left his mouth, he let go of the bar he was grasping hard enough to turn his knuckles white and stormed out, hand rubbing his face as though he had something on it.

With an audible sigh, past watched his best friend leave and laid his head back against the stone wall closed his eyes. When his breath slowed enough to indicate that he had fell into a light doze, the entire present group of friends turned to leave, politely ignoring Heracles who had started wiping his eyes. Crossing through the door, they noticed the sun was higher in the sky than it had been a few minutes ago and knew the spell had done its weird time manipulation again.

"S'obvious. You two ended up hatin' each other back then, so why would you start gettin' along now when this kinda Scheisse is hangin' over your heads? And dun say Scheisse about "not knowing", just cuz your head dun know dun mean your "soul" or whatever Scheisse you believe in doesn't remember." Walking alongside his brother, Gilbert turned to look at Sadiq and Heracles who were following along and stared at them for a minute before turning around and rested his arm on his brother's shoulder.

The two in questioned looked at each other before turning their heads both knowing what Gilbert was saying was true, but they knew that they would do the same thing over again if given a choice.

"I still don't fucking give a shit the reasons why, its disguisting that my past self did it with that human wall." They all looked at Romano who was walking with his head down and his shoulders rounded as he kicked a rock. His voice was sullen and showed that he was really only half paying attention to what was going on.

With a collective sigh, everyone ignored Romano's grumbling and kept walking, trying to figure out where they should go or who to follow as they couldn't find see any of the town citizens around. The group continued to walk along, trying to find anyone to follow to see what had happened next in this tale that seemed to be nearing its conclusion.

"I think I see a crowd of people in the main square, that would be a good place to start looking for the next event."

"Ludwig, the way things have been going, It probably is the next event."

Everyone nodded in agreement to Arthur's statement. They had only been shown the relevant details to what had happened to the skeleton they found, and this throng seemed to be part of it. Getting closer to everyone, they noticed that everyone in town seemed to be there, an in it all were a lot of familiar faces. They spotted most of their past selves in the crowd, along with their friend Liz's and Alfred's; basically every one they knew was in the crowd, waiting.

"Ve, Lu-Luddi, it's the gallows, someone's going to die!"

Everyone looked over to Feliciano to see the color draining from his face and that he had latched hard onto Ludwig's arm again. Finally registering what he said, they followed his arm that was pointing to a tall wodden structure in the middle of the open area that was the center of town. It was indeed gallows. The noose hung down, gently swaying in the breeze. Next to the noose stood past Gilbert, a hard, cold look on his face. His red eyes were narrowed against the sun and his white hair was playing in the breeze. All in all, if it wasn't such a serious matter he would have cut a striking figure.

Hearing a mummer starting from the edge of the crowd, they turned to look what was going on and saw past Sadiq being led towards them, hands manacled in front of them with a white blindfold over his eyes, blocking him from meeting anyone's gazes.

"Luddi, its Sadiq! They're going to hang Sadiq! I don't want them to hang him, he didn't do anything wrong!" As present Feliciano panicked, he released Ludwig's arm and latched his arms around present Sadiq's waist, burying his face in his friend's chest. Sadiq lifted his arms and hugged Feliciano tight, not knowing what to say to his friends at this revelation. He had a feeling this was where the whole thing was going to end up once he caught site of his past self with past Romano, but he had hoped he was wrong.

Following behind past Sadiq was past Ludwig with a troubled look on his face. He was in the constable uniform they had seen him in before, and his hair was slicked back in its normal fashion. Looking behind him they could see past Arthur strolling as if he hadn't a care in the world. He actually seemed to be happy that they were hanging someone. Everyone watched as past Ludwig led Sadiq up the stairs and stopped him behind the nose. Turning him to face the crowed, he stepped away and off the platform. They watched him walk to the crowd, face trying to remain blank instead of showing how uneasy he was about the proceedings.

A clearing of the throat brought their attention to the platform again to see past Arthur standing beside Sadiq with a rolled up paper in his hands. As he unrolled it, a hush fell over the crowd, waiting with baited breath to see what the Judge would say.

"Sadiq Adnan, you have been charged with Witchcraft, consorting with the Devil, Sodomy, manhandling an official of the law and attempted poisoning. I will ask you one last time, how do you plead?"

Gazes shifted over to past Sadiq as he stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I am innocent." His voice was steady and proud, showing strength in his conviction and that he would not be wavered from his stance."

"Since the witch has proclaimed innocence, he will hang by the neck until dead. He will receive no last rights, this is his fate for defying the natural order."

As past Arthur walked of the stage, they saw Priest Kiku making his way to the front of the group. Moving closer so they could hear what he said, they were surprised to hear his words. They weren't judgmental, they were full of sorrow.

"I am sorry my friend, I wish I could have prevented this fate. Perhaps if the God is merciful, we shall meet again in another life."

Hearing a rustle of cloth, they all turned to see past Gilbert pull out a black hood which he placed over Sadiq's head. Cinching it tight so it wouldn't come off, he moved the nose and placed it around Sadiq's neck also. Uses his hands to feel to make sure the noose is tight enough, he nodded to himself, satisfied with his work.

"Uncle Herc, why is Gilbert putting the rope around daddy's neck?"

Turning around, everyone from the future group saw past Heracles standing there with Sadiq's son in his arms. They watched as he maneuvered the child to where he was no longer facing the platform.

"Daddy's not going to be able to take care of you; you're going to come live with me."

"But why? I want Daddy!" Little Denzer was trying to turn around to see his dad on the gallows, but past Heracles wasn't letting him. Placing his hand on the back the boys head, he tightened his hold on the boy, all the while keeping his eyes on Sadiq.

"I'll explain when you're older, now please just be quiet for a little bit and I'll get you a toy."

Little Denzer had finally quieted and was relaxing against Herc's chest and all was quiet again. It was silent enough that they could hear past Gilbert's boot squeak as he walked on the platform over to the lever and saw him rests his hands on the lever before looking at past Sadiq again.

"See you in Hell Witch."

As the words left his lips, he pulled the lever and the trap door feel out from under past Sadiq's feet. He started falling and was suddenly stopped in midair, a loud snap ringing though the town square. They all watched him sway back and forth with the extra movement and could tell from his limp body that he was dead.

The scene dissolved around them as they watched the feet sway in the breeze and they could hear past Heracles trying to stifle his crying. The group that was transported back to the past blinked and they were back in the clearing, the bones still laying before them. They could see the fractures on the neck that they missed before. Looking from the bones to each other, they saw that they were all crying having witnessed the death of their friend; even if it was a death in a past life it still hurt.

"Sadiq, don't do that again, don't die!"

Feliciano wailed into Sadiq's chest as he hugged him tight, giving no indication that he was letting go.

"You, it was all you that caused this, you caused all the fighting and heartache." Looking over when they heard Heracles yelling, they saw him push Romano onto the ground and look at him angry. Kiku was trying to hold him back.

"How is it all my fault? Fatass also had a role if you remember right, he was a very active participant from what we saw, you will _not_ blame this all on me!" Romano yelled back as he was starting to get up from where he was pushed. Brushing himself off, he went to try to get into Heracles face as they were interrupted.

"Everyone stop this inane fighting, this is not the time! We just received life altering news, now is not the time for fighting."

Everyone looked at Ludwig who sighed and walked over to Sadiq himself. Putting his hand on the man's shoulder, he patted him as Feliciano held the crying man closer."

Felling another hand on his shoulder, Sadiq looked up and nodded to Ludwig and Gilbert, glad to have their friendships. He released Feliciano, only to watch him latch onto Ludwig as he tried to stifle his sniffles.

"Well shit, sorry man. But now I understand why you're so far in the closet your half way to Narnia."

Shaking his head, Sadiq could only look at Gilbert in an odd fashion as he tried to figure out what he was talking about.

"What the hell are you talking about, I'm a straight as a board, no way I'm in the closet." Sadiq retorted as quickly as he could, shaking his head all the while.

"You sure about that, I saw you checking out Heracles' ass a while back"

"You're seeing things Gil, I wasn't checking out Heracles's ass, I was checking out Arthur's!"

Slapping a hand quickly over his mouth, his eyes widened in shock as he couldn't believe he had just admitted that to the whole group. Feeling a hand on his elbow, Sadiq looked over and saw Arthur standing there. Quirking an eye brow again, he looked at the other in confusion, hoping he wasn't going to be rejected and thrown from the group.

"My past self was a bastard and way more of an ass than you ever were. Why don't we get lunch sometime and I can show you some real magic?"

A moment of silence past before everyone cracked up laughing. A look of confusion played across Arthur's face before he realized what he said and facepalmed.

The walk back to the camp was full of teasing and poking fun of each other, trying to lighten the load that they had all just seen, and to show Sadiq support and that they didn't care what had happened before, the past was the past and it should be left there.

Well, now that was quite a trip, no? I hope you all enjoyed it, please read and review *grins*


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